BUNN, N.C. - With thundershowers forecast for much of the state this week, North Carolina farmers are holding their breaths once again. They are waterlogged from a rainy spring and summer, and already down many thousands of dollars in income. Parts of the state have seen double the average amount of rainfall, and some lawmakers are asking the Governor to declare the season an agricultural disaster.

According to John Vollmer, who grew up on his farm in Bunn, the multiple heavy downpours this season are tough to recover from.

"About the time we would get the plants straightened out from the previous event, we'd have another one," he recalled. "It beat us down."

Vollmer grows fruits and vegetables and said the strawberries which are normally his biggest money maker took the biggest hit. He's down $40,000 this year. Many fruits and vegetables do not have federally-sponsored crop insurance as wheat and tobacco do.

Scott Marlow, the executive director for the Rural Advancement Foundation International USA (RAFI USA), an agricultural advocacy organization, said people might not recognize a season of intense rain as a natural disaster, like they do a tornado or hail storm.

"Folks who aren't watching their vegetables rot, are just walking around going 'Man, it's a drag, it's raining again,' but for a significant number of the farmers in this state, this is a real crisis," he declared.

John Vollmer and other farmers would like the federal government to establish crop insurance for more fruits and vegetables. If successful in bringing that about, a part of their premiums would be subsidized with federal money, as with other large crops. He said having insurance would help him grow the family business.

"One of the things that keeps me from expanding or wanting to expand, is the lack of being able to cover the risk."

Vollmer said that because of this year's loss, he's downsizing his farm next year to further reduce his risk.




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WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. - A farming project on a Puget Sound island is looking to reshape agriculture and access to land.

The nonprofit Agrarian Trust launched its Agrarian Commons project in 12 sites across the U.S.

Puget Sound Agrarian Commons got its start in 2020 after a 12 acre farm gift on Whidbey Island.

Addie Candib is the Pacific Northwest regional director for American Farmland Trust and a board member on Puget Sound Agrarian Commons. Farmers who join the trust, Candib said, will be part of the board and involved in decision making on the property.

"This is really trying to not just get farmers on the land," said Candib, "but to also empower them as thought partners and really having some power in the long-term stewardship of the land."

The commons recently opened up for proposal requests from farmers. The land currently is undeveloped.

She said farmers who become part of the commons will use regenerative agriculture to create a resilient ecosystem.

Candib noted the majority of farm owners in the U.S. are older and white and notes that as they retire, a large amount of land will change hands. Candib said the commons wants to support a new generation of farmers.

"We also know that access to land is one of the biggest barriers that faces beginning farmers," said Candib, "and particularly beginning farmers who are people of color or who come from backgrounds where they historically have not had access to land."

Candib said she believes the project is crucial for supporting the future of local agriculture.

"If we want healthy, vibrant local food systems we need to figure out how we get people who want to farm onto the land," said Candib, "in ways that are stable and secure and affordable so that people can really thrive in their chosen careers."

RICHMOND, Va. -- Farmers of color are urging Congress to end a slew of lawsuits delaying a loan-forgiveness program designed to make amends for years of loan discrimination against minority farmers.

White farmers are claiming in court Congress's $4 billion debt relief for Black farmers, part of a COVID-19 stimulus package, amounts to reverse discrimination.

John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association and a Virginia-based farmer, claimed for years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture systematically denied loans to farmers of color, placing them at much higher risk of foreclosure.

"The lawsuits are inaccurate, and it's certainly not fair for farmers of color to hold our payments up and say that we're causing them, white farmers, some sort of harm by getting debt relief," Boyd asserted. "To me, it's a continuation of the discrimination that we've been facing for many, many years."

A judge has put the debt-relief money on hold until about a dozen lawsuits, including a class-action case in Texas, are settled.

Boyd said unlike white farmers, Black farmers who fell behind on a USDA loan payment would often be given just 30 days to pay in full, or they were pressured to sign their deed over to the agency. He noted he faced serious discrimination for years in Mecklenburg County by a Farmers Home Administration officer who would only see Black farmers one day a week, and serve white farmers first.

"This person spat on me, called me racial epithets, had my application torn up and thrown in the trash can," Boyd recounted. "When they came out to investigate this person, they asked him, 'Did he have a problem making loans to Black farmers?' And he said, 'Well, yeah, I think that they're lazy and look for a paycheck on Friday.'"

Boyd pointed out the inability for farmers of color to get and keep USDA loans has dramatically reduced their numbers. Of the 3.4 million farmers in the U.S. today, the agency said fewer than 50,000 are Black, down from one million a century ago.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's Department of Agriculture wants help from nature enthusiasts or anyone else who can assist in eradicating an invasive insect that can do significant damage to plants and crops.

The spotted lanternfly, a plant-hopper native to Asia, was discovered in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014. In Ohio, it was first spotted in Jefferson County last fall.

The spotted lanternfly feeds on hops, grapes and fruit trees, as well as oak, pine, poplar and walnut trees.

David Adkins, agricultural inspection manager for the Plant Pest Control Section of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, asked people to report sightings of lanternflies, with a photo if possible and the exact location of the sighting.

"We are relying on the public to help us, quite a bit, on reporting," Adkins acknowledged. "Because we don't have a trap or any type of lure that really works in drawing the spotted lanternfly in so that we can take an inventory of the population."

Adkins noted the lanternfly was found near train tracks in Mingo Junction, possibly brought by a train hauling trash to a Jefferson County landfill from the New York metro area. Sightings can be reported to the state's Plant Pest Control Division at 614-728-6400.

The Agriculture Department is working with the state Department of Natural Resources, Ohio State University, the Ohio Grape Industries Committee and others to conduct ground and aerial searches, set traps and do educational outreach.

Adkins pointed out the main worry is how the spotted lanternfly will affect vineyards in the state.

"Our biggest concern right now is with the grape industry and the orchard industry," Adkins explained. "We know very well they definitely attack the grapes, have killed some orchards over in Pennsylvania. But they also made the crop unusable, because of the honeydew that they deposit on the fruit."

From late summer to November, lanternflies are easiest to spot because they're in their adult moth stage.

Adkins said the department is also conducting a series of treatments on lanternfly nymphs and adults. This winter, they'll be treating any egg masses they find with horticultural oil, which kills the bugs but doesn't harm wildlife.